Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2024 i Collectors Gazette

Collectables come in all shapes and sizes – not to mention degrees of taste. If your particular bent is horror, then the recent British Toy Auctions sale would have proved a magnet, for it sold a slightly gruesome resin bust of Regan from The Exorcist film. At 11 inches high, it was marked 'Exorcist S Kenrick 98' on the back of the neck. In very good condition, it fetched £200, plus premium. Rather more genteel fare was typified by the unusual Rupert the Bear 'Muscular Dystrophy' Charity Collection Box. The hard plastic/vinyl box with detachable base stood approximately 97cms in height. The box evidenced signs of use, but appeared to be in relatively good condition and would have benefited from cleaning. It achieved a hammer price of £160. The Hot…

You have to feel sorry for Matchbox collectors. Just as someone thinks they have completed their collection, out of the woodwork come some preproduction examples… This was the case at the Vectis sale, which saw £4,000 the top bid for a Superfast Ford Capri in lemon yellow with a black bonnet hiding a purple engine. A mighty £2,700 won the Superfast 45a Ford Group 6 with a rare, flat, non-metallic green body with circular racing number 7 nose and door labels. The 7b Hairy Hustler in purple with a white interior and the brick red 5a Lotus Europa both tipped the scales at £1,100, while a Mazda RX500 in silver with a lime green engine cover made £750. Cheaper fare was the metallic gold Dodge Charger with an ivory interior…

Civil unrest rocked the UK during this year, when militants blocked the entrances to oil refineries in protest against high fuel prices. The ensuing panic buying by motorists led to nationwide petrol shortages. Other transport news concerned a rail accident in Hatfield, when a Great North Eastern Railway InterCity 225 train derailed south of Hatfield station, killing four people in the process. Code breakers were also in the news this year: a World War II Enigma machine was stolen from the Bletchley Park Museum. Why, one wonders… As for politics, David Trimble won the leadership election of the Ulster Unionist Party whilst in Wales, at the Ceredigion by-election, Simon Thomas retained the seat for Plaid Cymru. As for law and order, the notorious M25 killer and ex-Brinks Mat heist member,…

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PART 6 As they say on telly, “in a change from the advertised programme…” At the end of the last instalment covering commercial vehicles, I mentioned that the next instalment would be police and emergency vehicles, but for a couple of reasons this has been delayed until a future issue - hopefully (Ed: definitely!). So in its place is a genre very close to my heart and the area where I discovered collecting about 15 years ago, before my obsession with the Matchbox, Corgi and Dinky toys I had as a young lad took over. For once the card kits from the likes of Metcalfe, Superquick and Kingsway and ready-made beauties from Bachmann take a back seat this time. Instead I had to turn to some unlikely sources mixed with…

The first celebrated Corgi Commer van to be released, in June 1963, was to become a very popular Police vehicle. The Commer Police Van was issued as No.464. The van was finished in blue with a ‘County Police’ label and crest along each side, the cab of this vehicle had a red vacuum-formed interior and its own flashing light system. A switch situated underneath the van operated the light. The flashing effect was activated by the use of a cam on the front axle. The whole rear of the body could be detached in order to replace the battery. It was produced in 1/45 scale and achieved 438,000 sales between 1963 and 1967. This Police Van was re-released in 1967 with the same model number. The new version had ‘Police’…

Collectors, when talking about model cars, often stray into the world of their Creal-life counterparts. Given their linked history it could hardly be otherwise. My father, a child of the 1950s always waxed lyrical over his Dinky Toy saloons. Living opposite a garage at the time he literally had a front row view of the real-life Riley’s, Standard Vanguard’s and Austin Atlantic’s that pulled in for a quick wipe of the windscreen and to fill up on Four-Star. The whole scene was replicated on his sitting room floor, although as he’s always quick to correct new cars were quite scarce in early post-War Britain, though thankfully Dinky toys were not. When my childhood arrived sometime in the early 1970s things had changed quite a bit. I was a big Matchbox…

According to Miles King, co-owner of Milestone Auctions, interest in Japanese tinplate has never been greater. This was attested to in the house’s last event, when an example of the futuristic, brightly-coloured Yonezawa Atom Racer whizzed off to make US$25,740, almost doubling its upper pre-sale estimate. At 26 inches long, this particular model is revered by the collecting fraternity. German tinplate wasn’t ignored, either: a Lehmann 7 inch clockwork taxi-cab in mustard with a black roof retained its driver and even the fabric flag on the bonnet: it realised US$3,198. If you know the name Gordon Bennet, then you’ll know a bit about the American playboy who hit the headlines with his exploits in yachts, hotair balloons and motor racing. German company Issmayer produced a Bennet tinplate racing car; and…

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An Aladdin’s Cave of rare film and TV collectibles – from Star Wars to Dr Who and many others – is to be auctioned online over the weekend of August 30-31 at The Canterbury Auction Galleries. Thousands of items from an anonymous collector are up for grabs and the sheer scale and variety of the toys, figures, posters and models is mind blowing - with something for every pocket. There are Daleks and posable figures from early Dr Who; characters, beasts and crafts from Star Wars in all sizes and by all manufacturers; Bond guns, figures and cars of all kinds; Batman goodies, Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds, ET and Pocahontas toys – you name it, it’s in the Heroes and Villains sale. “It’s a fantastic chance to boost just about every…

Variety is the spice of life’. Dating from 1785, that proverb could well be the oldest cliche in circulation. It comes from a poem called ‘The Task’ by William Cowper, and you can have that as one of your five-a-day cultural references. It’s so corny, no-one uses it any more, unless they’re being ironic. Mind you, as it’s survived for nearly 240 years and still makes sense, it could be due for a comeback. But it’s so apt; imagine if we only had one model of car, or one type of tree. Imagine if all music was mid-century easy listening, or seagulls were the only birds, or clothes were only available in blue. (Actually, that last one’s true in my case.) In the quest for greater efficiency (ie lower costs),…

During the early 1990s television in the UK was searching for a new sports style family entertainment programme. London Weekend Television, an ITV company, came up with a British version of the US TV hit, American Gladiators. So was born Gladiators, which screened for the first time in 1992. The format was fairly simple; contestants fought duels with the Gladiators in a recreation, of sorts, of the Roman games at the Coliseum in ancient times…hence the name of the TV show. It was done on a knock-out basis so the winner was never known until the end of the series. The show proved popular and it lasted until the year 2000. Similar to its ancient counterpart there were six different challenges to face in each week’s show - the Atlaspheres,…

Item: Britains 171F Fordson Super Major with spade wheels Condition: tractor has a couple of chips to the bonnet but in generally very good, box excellent Sold for: £720 (23 bids) Item: Moko Lesney Matchbox Commercial Vehicle Set PS4  Condition: the vehicles are all very good, in a worn original hinged presentation box  Sold for: £600 (2 bids) Item: Hot Wheels Troy Lee Texas Drive Em Condition: in its unopened box and packaging, with a unique signature from Troy Lee Sold for: £520 (38 bids) Item: Kenner Star Wars Vinyl Cape Jawa Condition: excellent with the only imperfection being a black spot on its head, original figure and cape  Sold for: £1,220 (17 bids) Item: Gunthermann Captain Campbell’s BlueBird tin toy Condition: used but working, box has definitely seen better…

The last Bertoia sale turned over US$2.5m, the auction comprising entirely antique toys and banks from the private collection of John and Adrianne Haley. A fleet of majestic German-made ships was a highlight. One of them, a circa 1902-1907 Marklin clockwork Battleship France, was an imposing 25 inch long craft with an exaggerated superstructure, numerous cannon, lifeboats and masts; it even retained its original Marklin wooden box. This would have cost a fortune when new; and a century later, it didn’t disappoint, realising US$78,000. It was accompanied by a number of lead sailor figures. It was a good day for a circa-1890s Ernst Plank steam and sail ship. All original, with a handpainted hull and matching lifeboats, the toy could be powered by a live steam engine with a single…

If you are looking for a niche area in which to collect, one that has not been trampled to death by the hordes of rail and diecast enthusiasts, then I think that I might have the very thing for you: occupied territory toys. DIVIDE AND RULE The termination of six years of global conflict in 1945 brought with it peace, yes, but at the same time the myriad headaches of post-war settlement and progress for Germany and Japan. For this article I’m focussing on Germany, with a follow-up feature on Japan. Here, a historical note will hopefully paint the background to the subject of occupation toys. The UK, Russia, France and the US, as victors, all exerted their influence in Germany during the immediate postwar years, although Russia’s approach to…

Being a child of the 1950s I have fond memories of the BBC radio show Listen with Mother. In my case, always being full of energy, it was often more a case of being made to ‘Listen with Mother’! I do fondly remember, however, one snowy Christmas way back in the late 1950s my sister excitedly ripping open a parcel to reveal a cute little golden brown bear called ‘Toffee,’ one of the characters from Listen with Mother. Whatever became of my sisters Toffee Bear we shall never know, he was most likely given to a jumble sale in the 1960s when we’d turned our attention to other things like record players and Scalextric. ‘Toffee Bear’ would be worth a tidy sum now had he survived in our possession! He…

Many moons ago I collected Matchbox models. They were plentiful, not too expensive and the finite range of 1-75 appealed. The more I delved, though, the more complicated things became. That series had re-issues; then there were some models with plastic wheels, which could be silver or grey or black. Other variations kept coming to light, and this was before ex-Lesney employees began testing the marketplace with models that never made the final cut. Pre-production examples, often one-offs, sent prices into the stratosphere. And I haven’t even mentioned the boxes yet… I finally hung up my anorak when people (admittedly only a few) began to start counting tread patterns on the tyres. But… if you like diecasts of this size and are blessed with modest means, why not sample Bestbox?…

Corgi Toys GS 37 Gift Set “Lotus Racing”, to include Lotus Coupe, Lotus Elan S2, Lotus Chassis on Trailer, Lotus Racing Car and Volkswagen Pick-Up. Conditions are good to good plus in a fair polystyrene tray (missing outer box). Sold for £80, Vectis Auctions, June. Corgi Toys GS 38 Gift Set “Rallye Monte Carlo”, to include (1) BMC Mini Cooper S - red including interior, white roof, (2) Rover 2000 - metallic maroon, white roof, red interior and (3) Citroen DS19 - light blue, white roof with grey aerial, lemon interior. Conditions are generally good to good display well inner carded tray is good plus, outer blue and yellow carded picture box is poor. Sold for £300, Vectis Auctions, June. Dinky Toys Military 661 Scammell Recovery Tractor, rare late issue, green including…